Chicken salad takes on new life in this Brazilian twist. Carrots add color, flavor and crunch, while potato chips lend a salty and crispy element to the dish. Served with crackers, bread, or by itself, this is the perfect cool meal or snack for a hot summer day. It is so fast that it will not keep you in the kitchen for long.

Brazilian mayonnaise salads (called maionese) are something you are almost guaranteed to find on any table in Rio, Brasilia, Curitiba, or Recife. They are truly a Brazilian classic.

Maionese de Frango (chicken salad) is the perfect pairing of the Brazilian inclination towards crunchy and creamy and salty all together. It includes two key ingredients that I might never have otherwise thought to put together: potato chips and real mayonnaise.

Brazilians have something for potato chips in dishes and as toppings for some foods that I have never seen in the USA. They are like the Brazilian version of Ritz crackers with butter on casseroles in America.

And anything with cream or mayonnaise in it is the Brazilian jam.

Brazilian chicken salad is really simple. It is a great take on chicken salad, especially if you are burnt out on American salads. I have tried everything from adding grapes to adding apples, and the Brazilian version is now at least one of my favorite versions, if not at the top of the charts.

This dish was introduced to me by Adriana, my Brazilian neighbor in Thailand. She made it and shared it with my family, inspiring me to try my own hand at it. Obrigada, minha amiga!

How are brazilian and american chicken salads different?

Brazilians use real mayonnaise in nearly everything, especially salads. Next to sweetened condensed milk and heavy cream, mayonnaise seems to be the all-time favorite ingredient in Brasileira kitchens.

While American chicken salads often feature crunchy celery and onions, Brazilian chicken salad gets its crunch factor from thinly sliced carrots, which also double as natural food coloring for the dish.

How to Make Brazilian Chicken Salad

The first ingredient, of course, is chicken. This recipe calls for boiled, shredded chicken. When shredded rather than diced (as some American recipes do), chicken seems to retain more of the moisture of the mayonnaise, and the salad seems to be more cohesive.

The next most important ingredient is real mayonnaise. When you make Brazilian chicken salad, do not skimp and substitute. The real mayonnaise is truly the secret ingredient of Brazilian salada. Keep it for the authenticity and–once you have tried it–for the flavor.

Carrots and potato chips lend delicious texture to the salad. The chicken salads that I have tasted have all had shredded carrot rather than diced, minced, or sliced. In my opinion, shredding the carrot makes it meld well with the rest of the dish–a feat that can be challenging without cooking or steaming. With shredding, no cooking is necessary.

Before you mix in the potato chips, you must crush them into small pieces. You don’t want them to be powder, but you also do not want any large chunks that will hurt your mouth.

The recipe is simple, so let’s get cooking!

What to serve with it

Avocado Vitamina

Homemade Brazilian Bread (Pao Caseiro)